Bears happy to keep Mark Sanchez around, even if he’s inactive

But once Trubisky showed enough to be trusted to be their No. 2 quarterback, it was reasonable to wonder where veteran Mark Sanchez fit in.

Via Rich Campbell of the Chicago Tribune, Bears General Manager Ryan Pace said he thinks Sanchez still has plenty to offer the team, even if he’s inactive on game days.

“It starts with he’s a good player,” Pace said. “But it also goes into all the intangibles he brings, what he brings to our locker room and the quarterback room. Mike can lean on his experience, and Mitch can lean on that too. He’s valuable for us. He’s the kind of guy that just exudes positive energy wherever he is, and he has seen a lot in his career.”

He’s certainly done that. It seems forever ago that he was the fifth overall pick in the 2009 NFL Draft, and led the Jets to four road playoff wins in his first two seasons. He’s seen plenty since then, from a much different perspective, which Trubisky is leaning on.

“He just has so much knowledge,” Trubisky said. “Being in the league for nine years now, he’s seen so many defenses. And he knows how to, coming into a new team, how to study a new playbook. So he’s giving me tips about how to remember things, pick it up faster, what to study in film on a weekly basis and really how to carry yourself in the huddle. And he helps me a lot with situation scenarios throughout the game.”

While plenty of teams are only keeping two quarterbacks on the roster, the Bears clearly think those lessons are worth giving Sanchez a roster spot to serve as a mentor to Trubisky.

>>“It starts with he’s a good player,” Pace said. “But it also goes into all the intangibles he brings, what he brings to our locker room and the quarterback room.

As someone who follows the Jets this is a really funny statement. He wasn’t just a bad QB, he was epic bad. He turned the ball over more than anyone including Ryan Fitzpatrick when you add in all his fumbles. At one point he had something like 1.5 turnovers a game.

I don’t care how great a guy someone is, if they are a terrible player, why have them on the team? How will he mentor a QB? What he going to say?

“Don’t turn the ball over like I did”

“Don’t throw innaccurate passes behind receivers like I did”

It’s not like the Bears are a play off team. They would be better off with an unknown QB who might be the next Tony Romo (who was a good QB, and underrated by many fans)

I was at the Patriots game in 2011 (2010 season) when the Jets beat us (yes I said “us”). Taking the train back to Boston there was a guy behind me that said “Why did it have to be the Jets!” over and over again. I felt the same way. His misery kind of cheered me up, I guess because misery loves company.

I’m still not over that loss. Brady was great that year and they had beaten the Jets, Steelers and Packers earlier in the year. They had a great chance and blew it.

That was at the hands of Mark Sanchez. 3 TDs for him. He might not have been great, but he made some great plays. It sucked for Patriots fans.

The butt fumble kind of made up for it, but not completely.

I don’t think it’s fair to say that Sanchez is terrible. He had his moments in the sun. He played well enough. He’s still hanging around, being a positive influence and staying in the league. By all accounts he’s worth about 15 million, so he doesn’t have to keep playing.

I thought he was a jerk, but I think he’s been through the NFL gauntlet and come out the other side and he’s a respectable guy who had some success in the league. A lot better than many hundreds of other guys that came and went and many thousands of players that could not make the NFL.